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Internet MarketingFri, 13 Sep 2019 00:26:09 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.11TechnologynoInternet MarketingJeffbullassBloghttps://feedburner.google.comHow To Design Mobile Forms To Boost Conversionshttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/JeffbullassBlog/~3/bJ2a9y1eztM/
Thu, 12 Sep 2019 15:00:01 +0000https://www.jeffbullas.com/?p=70028Mobile devices are ubiquitous now. People use them every day to book hotels, flight tickets, shop online and much more. No wonder there is a […]

People use them every day to book hotels, flight tickets, shop online and much more. No wonder there is a constant surge in the number of mobile users and it will increase with each passing year.

According to a report from Forrester’s Retail Wave, smartphones contributed retail purchases of USD $1 trillion in the US in 2018. Because of this, you must consider creating a mobile-friendly user experience so you don’t miss this potential audience.

Mobile forms are a key part of the conversion equation on phones. Be it an eCommerce checkout form or just a signup form. You don’t want users to abandon your website or app because of poor user experience.

In this article, I share a range of effective mobile form design tips that will help you drive more conversions on mobile devices.

#1. Understand the difference between the mobile and desktop UI

Before you design a form for mobile users, you must have an idea about the differences between the mobile and desktop user interface (UI).

Navigation

Here, users don’t have a large screen to scroll and navigate with a mouse. You need to consider touchscreen navigation to apply the proper size of the elements. Make sure there is no hover condition between any elements that hide important information.

Aspect Ratio

Almost 80-90% of smartphone users use their phones in portrait orientation so vertical scrolling is more spontaneous.

Additionally, the phone size is small compared with the desktop, so it is next to impossible to show your entire form at the same time, without scrolling.

Font Size

For mobile devices, 16px is the standard size for body copy. Using smaller or larger fonts can cause different issues, including visuals effects.

Research by MIT that included two different font sizes 8px and 10px provides these suggestions:

#2. Design mobile forms for users

Users may not like the design that you like. To make a great form, you need to consider the phone size and understand the users’ requirements.

Single Column Form

Research from the Baymard Institute explains that cart and checkout processes with multi-column layouts are vulnerable. Users may skip the fields which are required or put the wrong information in the multi-column form layout.

Single-column mobile form layouts help reduce the chance that a user will be distracted while filling in a form. Helping increase conversions. Hence, single-column should be applied for mobile devices.

Image Source: Baymard Institute

Multi-step Forms

If you have a lot of questions to ask, multi-step forms can be useful as it splits a form into steps. It helps users understand the process and remember what information they have entered. Make sure you put a progress bar to show the entire process to inform users about their progress.

Minimise Total Form Fields

Shorter is better.

Users don’t like a form which asks for too much information as it takes a lot of effort, hence they abandon the form. The longer the form, the more complicated it is. Ensure you only include the important fields to simplify the process and increase conversions.

#3. Apply automation to your mobile forms

Who doesn’t love automation? Users love it when a mobile form is filled automatically. Here are some automation tricks you can apply:

Autocorrect

Autocorrect helps users enter the correct information if it is placed incorrectly. For instance, their city name or address. This will eliminate the user’s effort to rectify it.

Autocomplete and Autofill

Autocomplete helps users finish a known address or city and can be used to fill the zip code by identifying the city name. Using this automation hack will lessen the user’s effort and reduce the chance of them abandoning the form.

Segments

#5. Use field labels and masks

Using field masks can help users decrease errors and indirectly lessen their efforts. By displaying the proper format for each input field, like the credit card number, you can speed up the form completing process.

Field masks should be visible as soon as the user starts filling in the form. There is no point making it visible gradually as the user is still guessing the input type.

Avoid including placeholder text. Users may skip these fields as they look pre-filled.

Keep in mind that the form label shouldn’t be used as placeholder text as it will disappear once the user starts typing in the field.

Field labels

Field labels are important as they describe the purpose of the input controls. There are different ways to place labels in a mobile form. Developers should think of the place for the labels before thinking of the controls.

You could use floating labels, using CSS or JavaScript. This will appear as an inline label in the text box. When the user starts typing, it will start floating upwards and settle at the top of the control box.

Pro tip: Nail your call-to-action (CTA)

So, you’ve designed your form by following all of these tips but your mobile form still doesn’t convert?

All conversions on different devices, be it desktop or mobile, depend on the call-to-action (CTA). The CTA tells users what to do for the next step and gives an idea about what will happen when they do so.

]]>https://www.jeffbullas.com/how-to-design-mobile-forms/The 9 Best Hashtag Tracking Tools Every Marketer Should Knowhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/JeffbullassBlog/~3/gZ9QxB0ZvgU/
Wed, 11 Sep 2019 15:00:21 +0000https://www.jeffbullas.com/?p=69983For most of us, social media has become a second home where we invest 3-4 hours of our leisure time a day. This is supported […]

For most of us, social media has become a second home where we invest 3-4 hours of our leisure time a day. This is supported by the fact that there are 3.2 billion people logging in daily to social media. And marketers see an opportunity to attract this audience to their product or business.

Hashtag tracking is one method that helps this purpose for marketers.

Hashtags have been a highlight of social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. They are commonly used by businesses and users to support their content on digital platforms.

An intro to hashtags

A hashtag is generally a phrase or keyword prefixed with the # sign which is attached to a piece of content on social media. A hashtag helps enhance the discoverability of the content.

The idea is to attach a hashtag relevant to the theme and characteristics of the content so that when people search for a content topic they can find it using just a simple hashtag.

Adding hashtags is immensely helpful as it increases your reach and makes it easily discoverable for a broader audience.

Especially for marketers, hashtags can be used to promote your content more effectively with expansive reach and engagement possibilities. Marketers can track hashtags for topics that are trending, what people are interested in, and brand-specific hashtags.

1. Taggbox

Taggbox is a social media aggregation tool that is extremely resourceful and effective in hashtag tracking. This allows you to track and gather quality content from social media platforms into a single feed.

You can track the better performing and trending hashtags easily and further you can customize the feed according to your liking, need, and theme, making it more attractive and attention-grabbing to users.

It gives you the option to moderate content as well where you can restrict competitors’ content, inferior, and inappropriate content as well.

Taggbox is extremely useful for a business to display creative content walls through hashtag tracking on events, weddings, seminars, conferences or even embed it on your website to drive better engagement and conversions.

2. RiteTag

RiteTag is a part of RiteKit and is a tracking and performance measurement tool for hashtags. It analyzes which hashtags are trending and performing better.

RiteTag has a useful analytics tool that shows diverse data statistics like popular accounts using hashtags, new trends, tag sets and much more, providing maximum ease of use.

Also, the hashtag strength identification feature provides a comparison of hashtags, showing which hashtag is performing best and it does this through color indicators.

3. Hashtagify

Hashtagify has features like trends analysis, user engagement, a hashtag keyword cloud, and relevant hashtag suggestions for you. As well, Hashtagify can conduct research and recommend the best hashtags for your business.

Hashtagify is a great tool for intelligent hashtag marketing dedicated to Twitter. It also provides trending hashtags for Instagram.

For marketers, it is a great tool as it has both tracking and analytics integration which enables better hashtag performance and engagement.

4. Hashtracking

Hashtracking, as the name suggests, is a simple and easy to use hashtag tracking tool that provides real-time hashtag tracking and performance analytics.

And for free members, it provides historical performance analytics. The reports for hashtags tracking can be created in a creative way to make it more visually attractive and easily understandable.

Further, you can create display names for a hashtags list for better management.

5. Keyhole

The primary differentiator for Keyhole is that it has a dashboard displaying essential hashtag performance metrics such as impressions, reach, most effective, best ones, location, demographics, and sentiment.

It further provides a media tab for visual content related to the monitored hashtag, and a streaming tab for a list of posts sorted with the engagement rate, location, and sentiment.

This tool also has a nifty influencers tab for identifying key influencers engaging with the hashtags.

6. Twubs

The best part about Twubs is that it provides you the option for registering a customized Hashtag for your use. And this acts as a protection for any copyright or legal claims for using Hashtags.

Its customizable feed allows you to make hashtag discoverability easier and gather its vast uses. The social landing page from Twubs allows users to communicate with you using your customized hashtag.

7. Talkwalker

Talkwalker is another great tool mainly to monitor hashtag performance, impressions, engagement, reach, and mentions. It comes with a real-time hashtag monitoring facility for your campaigns or events.

Besides that, it provides recommendations on trending topics, key hashtags, and linked brands with the hashtag.

Hashtag tracking is a part of the social media toolkit for Talkwalker and it has many key features to support hashtag tracking for better understanding and analysis.

8. TweetDeck

TweetDeck is a dedicated management tool for Twitter accounts and was acquired by Twitter. TweetDeck allows you to access multiple accounts from a single tool.

From here you can track and manage the performance and engagement of your hashtags. It is a totally free tool through which you can track various hashtags and campaigns.

9. Brand24

This tool allows you to track hashtag performance on different social platforms and helps in better overall social media monitoring and analysis. Brand24 includes both hashtag analytics and tracking.

You can identify the popularity of your hashtag on social media, find key influencers, analyze campaigns, and measure reach and impressions. Real-time hashtag tracking is only available after subscription.

Wrapping up

Social media performance analysis is a crucial aspect for your business and tracking hashtag performance helps immensely when identifying the right target audience, event marketing opportunities, brand awareness, and your marketing campaign performance.

These hashtag tracking tools are the best ones out there to help you monitor your brand’s image, performance and increase your conversions through analysis.

]]>https://www.jeffbullas.com/best-hashtag-tracking-tools/10 Key Facebook Video Marketing Statistics You Need To Knowhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/JeffbullassBlog/~3/UABIcg90sWU/
Tue, 10 Sep 2019 15:00:35 +0000https://www.jeffbullas.com/?p=69975Facebook has undeniably revolutionized the way people consume video content and has urged other social networks to follow their lead. This social media giant has […]

Facebook has undeniably revolutionized the way people consume video content and has urged other social networks to follow their lead.

This social media giant has fast gained momentum in the digital realm with around 1.32 billion daily active users. It is surely the go-to platform to market your brand and give it the necessary exposure required.

According to Cisco, by 2020, the minutes of video crossing the internet per second is expected to be close to 1 million. That’s a staggering amount.

When I had an interactive session with “Mr. Moiz Khan” a digital marketing expert at Animation Monster, he had this to say: “We live in a mobile-first world and the world of Facebook videos is like a reservoir of unimaginable opportunities that is certainly the next big thing in the world of video marketing.”

Let’s delve deeper into some of the key Facebook video marketing statistics that every digital marketer should be aware of to up their game in this highly competitive market.

Well, this statistic has been endorsed by Facebook business itself. Moiz Khan believes that exploiting the specific needs of any platform is important for technology to adapt accordingly. “Simply replicating television ads on Facebook won’t do. Ads on Facebook are perceived differently and they need to be treated that way. Customizing the ad length, capturing attention in the first few seconds, and optimizing vertical screen experiences are some of the few things that need to be kept in mind when developing video content.”

2. Video over static posts – garners five times longer views

User behavior studies conducted by Facebook suggest that Facebook videos have the ability to garner organic engagement. 73% of B2B marketers have reported that video plays a pivotal role in impacting the bottom line – that is the ROI.

Well, that’s not a small number for sure. What does this imply for your brand’s success?

In continuation with my conversation Moiz Khan, he shed some light on this crucial statistic, “Given the high occurrence of videos being played without sound, it has become all the more essential to create video content in a storytelling fashion. The use of subtitles is an integral part of conveying the intended message in the video.”

Facebook might have 8 billion views per day but 85% of them are in silence. Does your video still make sense?

A key ingredient to successful marketing campaigns is tapping into consumer insights. Marketers can leverage consumer viewing behaviors, in this case, to formulate highly impactful strategies and in turn increase bottom lines. You definitely want to avoid these common pitfalls when producing marketing videos.

Moiz Khan stresses the importance of tailoring experiences to match user expectations. “I believe that building ads that cater to different consumer segments can make them work a whole deal better. A short 6-second video might work for a casual visitor scrolling Facebook during office hours whereas a viewer who specifically tunes in to Facebook Watch has different expectations from the video experience.” Measuring business outcomes based on where the ad is shown can give you a clearer and justifiable picture.

5. Every 1 in 5 Facebook videos is a live broadcast

Moiz Khan’s take on this was quite enlightening, “Facebook has been prioritizing this channel and early adopters can definitely benefit from it. Live videos automatically rank higher in the newsfeed as they receive six times higher interactions than other regular videos.”

A well-rounded marketing strategy in the modern era integrating Facebook Live Video can be a game-changer for many.

There’s no denying that the foremost objective of every Facebook video is – brand awareness. Video marketing data, when analyzed by Facebook, revealed that brand recall was higher in 23% of consumers where the brand was mentioned in the first three seconds. And only 13% when the brand was featured after 4 seconds.

This stat is definitely backed by some concrete research. To top it off, square videos perform much better on the mobile version of the News Feed because they take up 78% more screen space as compared to a landscape video. That means your video content becomes all the more attention-grabbing because of the visual invading your screen space.

With 95% of Facebook users using their mobile devices to access Facebook, the bigger the video, the higher the engagement.

A survey by Facebook revealed that 30% of mobile shoppers discover new products and services through video. Videos not only help capture attention but are a key ingredient for feeding your sales funnel.

Whether you are leveraging the power of Facebook stories, ad video, live or native content – or even coupled together – your video strategy’s focus should be to maximize video content and get it viral.

9. Calls-to-action in the video directly impact conversion rates

Not every viewer reaches the end of the video and not every viewer is motivated enough at the beginning of the video to take action. Mid-roll CTA’s, however, are perfect opportunities to capitalize on as they capture the audience at a time when they are most involved with your content.

10. Native content gets more views

As the stats show, native Facebook video certainly does outweigh all other forms of shared video content. To conclude our talk with Moiz Khan, he said; “Whether it is Facebook’s News Feed algorithm that ranks native videos higher or simply the fact that viewers have an inclination towards native content, the stats speak for themselves.”

According to a 2017 study, Native Facebook video posts garnered 168% more interactions on average than the same videos being shared from another platform.

Wrap

With the 10 statistics highlighted above, you are well-equipped to be the next viral buzz in the world of digital marketing.

Guest author: Gerry Wilson is a creative content expert who loves to compose well-versed content with rich information. Having an eye for creativity and a passion to explore new avenues, he produces content that connects and guides her readers. He is currently associated with Video Animation INC, one of the leading video animation company around. Follow @GerryyWilson on twitter for more updates.

]]>https://www.jeffbullas.com/facebook-video-marketing-statistics/How To Supercharge Growth With Social Media Giveawayshttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/JeffbullassBlog/~3/oJPspL24W38/
Mon, 09 Sep 2019 15:00:11 +0000https://www.jeffbullas.com/?p=69998Take a look at these two statistics: Running social media giveaways can speed up growth by up to 70%. The majority of social media giveaways […]

Now, can you think of any other white-hat growth strategy with that much horsepower?

There’s a reason that giveaways and sweepstakes have become popular on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter: They. Work.

However, it’s a sad truth that many brands waste their growth by failing to follow up. Sure, a giveaway will boost your follower and engagement numbers – but if you want to lock those numbers in for the long term, then you have to do the work.

In this article, we’re going to cover everything you should be doing, and aren’t. From brand safety to ad strategies, social media rules to statistics, prepping the design to following up with winners, it’s all in here. Let’s go.

Design your giveaways with the right graphics, text, and tags

You already know that good visuals are key to a good social media post. Whether you prefer videos, photos, charts and graphs, animations or even gifs, the right image can boost engagement enormously.

According to Buzzsumo, in 2019, videos outperform text and even photo posts by up to 59%. And you’ll notice that giveaway posts make it into the top 4 post types, too. So just imagine how effective a video post, with an engaging question and a prize giveaway could be!

So the first step in a successful social media giveaway is the design. Remember, your giveaway post isn’t just an announcement about the contest. You’ll use it to collect comments and select a winner. It’s essential to get as much reach and reaction as you can.

And while the graphic element is all-important, you shouldn’t neglect the post caption or hashtags. Optimize your written message to get attention from users and algorithms.

Use keywords like giveaway, sweepstakes, prize, reward, win.

Keep the message simple – don’t ask users to jump through too many hoops. A simple comment and tag will suffice.

To encourage comments, ask an open question that will start a conversation with your followers. Remember, you want to foster genuine engagement.

Include a legal disclaimer and a short link to terms and conditions.

Use hashtags that are relevant to your industry, prize, and contests in general.

If you plan to run regular giveaways, start using a branded hashtag (for example, #WinToysRUs) so that your followers can stay up to date.

If you want to reach new followers, then sponsored and promoted posts make obvious sense. Use darkposts if you don’t want the giveaway to appear in your home feed so that only new recruits can interact with them.

It might seem counter-intuitive to promote a giveaway post if you want to reach your existing audience. But there are several important reasons you might need to sponsor the post.

Visibility. Social networks are restricting brand reach more and more. Just take a look at how Facebook engagement has plummeted in recent years. Use promoted posts to make sure your followers see the contest.

Niche = quality. If you want genuine, lasting engagement, then it’s better to aim for a specific audience. Pick a niche prize, and send out targeted posts.

Age restrictions. If your brand is age-sensitive, then promoted posts are the safest way to restrict the audience for your giveaway.

Location restrictions. Different countries have different regulations for online promotions. Or maybe you just don’t want to pay international shipping. Use promoted posts so that only local followers have a chance to win the prize.

Respond and build relationships with contest participants

We’ve mentioned the importance of genuine engagement a few times already. Here’s the deal: yes, you can run a contest where you demand likes and follows. And you’ll probably see your account grow.

But that growth won’t last. It won’t come from people who genuinely care about your brand. And it won’t result in meaningful engagement, conversions, and sales.

Here’s what to do if you want engagement that will have a positive, lasting effect on your bottom line: respond.

Think of your giveaway as the start of a long conversation. That conversation begins with an incentive: the giveaway prize. And it will continue through product awareness, customer service, and eventually, sales.

But the thing about conversations is that they are two-sided. So once a new follower begins to interact with you, respond to them!

Answer comments on the giveaway post.

Check your DMs for any queries or comments on the prize.

Follow your giveaway hashtag to see what people are saying.

If you have 5 minutes, go through the comments on your post and give each one a like. Trust me – that 5-minute investment will pay off later.

Think creatively about how you can continue reinforcing the relationship. You could offer small rewards, like a 10% discount, for everyone who comments.

Use tools like Instagram Quick Replies and Facebook Messenger bots to turn the giveaway into a series of one-to-one conversations with your customers.

Risk management for social media giveaways and sweepstakes

Social media has changed everything for marketers. Brands and customers are closer than ever, thanks to the instant contact offered by social media. That can facilitate marketing – and it can also increase brand risk.

So a lot of businesses are asking: what’s our exposure? How can we run fun, original campaigns without putting our reputation and brand safety on the line?

The most important thing is to get the legal details sorted. Every country regulates online giveaways differently, and some local regions – such as Québec in Canada – have stricter rules than others.

Wherever you’re based, you need to include terms and conditions, plus a disclaimer that exempts the social network from responsibility for your campaign. The T’s & C’s aren’t just a formality. They’ll protect your brand in case anything goes wrong.

Next, there are the social networks’ own terms of service. These vary hugely across platforms (even if everything is owned by Facebook these days). Here’s a quick summary:

Ask for comments and a limited number of tagged friends. You can’t use reposts or Stories in a contest, but you can ask people to share original content with your brand mention and hashtag.

Facebook. Comments only! Asking for likes, tags, shares or follows will get you banned.

Twitter. You can run giveaways based on replies, retweets, and your follower count.

One of the most common problems in a giveaway is the presence of spam or fake accounts. To avoid these, choose a prize that will appeal to your specific audience – not just anybody. Set a limit on how many times people can comment, and use fraud filters so that the prize goes to someone who genuinely deserves it.

How to pick a winner and finish up the giveaway

As we’ve said, most social media giveaways only stay open for a few days. But you should keep sharing updates and pushing the contest throughout that brief window, in order to maximize participation and reach.

Use all the social media tricks at your disposal. Run a live countdown on your Facebook and Instagram Stories. Share your favorite Twitter replies. Add a video to your IGTV channel where you unbox the prize or put it through its paces.

When it comes time to pick a winner, keep the social media blitz going. People can still join the contest by commenting, right up until the moment you trigger the prize draw.

Make the final moment as thrilling as possible. Don’t just write a text post and tag the winner. Add photos or instant video for more impact.

Announcing the winner isn’t just about creating buzz online. It’s crucial to maintaining your brand’s reputation. You’ll be surprised by how many people ask about the specific mechanics of the prize draw. They want to know who won, and they want to know that they won fairly.

Last of all, stay in touch with the winner. When you award a prize, you create a brand advocate – so make the most of the opportunity. Encourage them to share updates when they receive the prize. If you already have an affiliate or ambassador program, consider inviting your new winner to join.

Use promotion statistics to plan for growth

There are two, complementary ways to use the feedback from a social media giveaway:

Learn more about how your target audience engages online.

Optimize the time, date and network for your next giveaway campaign.

This is especially useful if you used ads to target a niche audience. By running a giveaway specifically for them, you section them off from your wider follower base – and get fine-grained analytics on the chosen group.

For example, you can compare relative engagement across social networks. You can see which times of day and days of the week your followers are most active, and how they access the giveaway online. You can even single out your 10 most active participants to vet as potential brand ambassadors or nano-influencers.

5 key takeaways for social media managers

So let’s wrap this up. At the end of this post, you should have 5 key takeaways in mind for your next social media giveaway:

Do your homework. Read up on the rules for your location and chosen social network.

Pick a specific audience, and optimize for them. Research a prize that will appeal to a specific group. Consider using ads to restrict your reach to ideal customers.

Make it easy to take part. Ask for just 1 or 2 actions on social media. Explain the contest clearly and simply.

Be responsive. Like, reply, and even share your favorite comments from the giveaway. Be available when participants have questions.

Weave giveaways into your big-picture strategy. Use feedback and statistics from your giveaway to plan your next steps on social media. If you run a giveaway for a segment of your audience, use the lessons learned to appeal to those people again.

Guest author: Corinna Keefe is part of the Easypromos marketing team. She works on English language content and communications, including video content and the Easypromos ebook library. She has lived in 10 different countries and speaks several languages; her goal is to share information and help people communicate all over the world. She holds a Masters degree from the University of Cambridge and has written for Social Media Examiner, the British Council, and others. She joined the Easypromos team in 2018.

]]>https://www.jeffbullas.com/social-media-giveaways/Is Discovering your Passionate Purpose An Accident?http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/JeffbullassBlog/~3/UNDGv_3rrI4/
Mon, 09 Sep 2019 00:47:22 +0000https://www.jeffbullas.com/?p=70212The big questions. What do you do with your life? Who do you want to be when you grow up? These answers are easy when […]

]]>https://www.jeffbullas.com/is-discovering-your-passionate-purpose-an-accident/The Undeniable Power of Business Promotions For Driving Growthhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/JeffbullassBlog/~3/QyAMkydvXoM/
Thu, 05 Sep 2019 15:00:02 +0000https://www.jeffbullas.com/?p=69969Are business promotions really beneficial online? Marketing dates back to ancient civilizations before newspapers, television, radio and of course, the internet was created. At that […]

Marketing dates back to ancient civilizations before newspapers, television, radio and of course, the internet was created. At that time merchants and workers were advertising their products and services differently, trying to catch the attention of passers-by with interesting and eye-catching signs. Since then, marketing and advertising have developed in multiple ways but different types of business promotions have always been part of it.

Buy two items for the price of one, buy a new TV and get a discount for a new mobile model, get a 25% off coupon and so on. We have all seen and heard of such promotions, some of them were appealing and were bringing added revenues to the companies and some of them failed completely. Despite this, there has never been a point in time where companies weren’t promoting something.

Now as most businesses have switched online, their marketing and sales models have changed and adapted to the new digital marketing era. With this new model, one thing has stayed the same – promotions are still an inseparable part of business. Today, most customers couldn’t care less about the marketing tactics of most companies, while they are receiving thousands of advertisements and promotions daily they all think that the company has one goal only, to sell them as much product as possible. Given this situation, one might be doubtful if promotions are really beneficial for businesses.

What is the power of online business promotions

While selling products and services is the ultimate goal of all enterprises, there are far more factors at play, than there were even one year ago. Promotions not only help online businesses get the desired number in sales reports, but to promote the brand itself, establish a long-time relationship with customers, provide a sense of exclusivity, and create a loyal community around the brand. According to Forbes, business promotions today are even more powerful than they were ten years ago.

Some industries in online business have more space for promotions and use them in many wonderful ways to turn potential customers into loyal ones. There are certain industries that benefit from promotions the most for various reasons. This article describes four such industries, what kind of promotions are most used by the companies operating in these industries and what are the benefits gained from them.

Financial industry

The online financial industry includes providers of financial services and trading – Forex brokerages, cryptocurrency exchanges, and various online payment systems. As they operate online and do not have an actual physical touchpoint with the customer it is essential to have attractive offerings. Especially when there are a lot of companies in this industry and the competition is always savage.

On the other hand, customers are searching for companies or providers that are offering the benefits they cannot attain with any other entity. Since promotions always include either discounts or offerings of certain things for free, not all companies are able to offer them on a daily basis. Hence, these promotions are also something that differentiates one company from another and gives it more validity and reliability in the eyes of customers.

The most popular promotions in these sectors are bonuses and financial trading benefits for the customers. Bonuses are often offered for opening an account with a certain brokerage. Traders who decide to register to get free money for trading, or can double the deposits they have made. Such promotions help providers to get more customers and encourage them to remain with the company.

The fact that promotions for finance companies are very beneficial can be confirmed by the demands of customers. The majority of them are searching for financial companies that offer such promotions as they provide a great chance to test one’s skills and profitability.

Ride-sharing industry

This is a relatively new industry. Online ride-sharing services have changed the transportation industry for forever now. Companies operating in this service provide us with the opportunity to plan our rides the way we want and customize the service as we like it. They are also very generous with the promotions and definitely get benefits for it. Ride-sharing companies have a different model of operating as for them both service providers (drivers) and service users (passengers) are considered to be customers. In many cases, drivers are more important than passengers. Therefore, promotions are offered to them exclusively sometimes.

Promotions that are directed to drivers are different from the ones that are intended for passengers. One of the best examples of a company offering promotions is Uber, the first company in this industry. It offers promotions to drivers that are not their customers yet. Without drivers Uber cannot operate, therefore it has designed a very clever bonus system to encourage drivers to become a part of the Uber network. In order to receive the bonus, a driver should register with Uber with a driver referral code. After the company approves the driver he or she has to meet the requirements of the bonus to receive it in the end. The bonus, in essence, is a monetary reward, to encourage the driver to start working. If you look at the size of Uber and their presence you can see that the bonus system is working very successfully.

Benefits for the passengers are different. Uber offers them free credits when a person downloads the Uber app and creates an account. At the same time, users can get promotional codes for referrals.

eCommerce stores

eCommerce is an online industry where you can find the most business promotions. The variety of eCommerce stores brings diversity to online promotions. They are best used by the stores that are selling consumable goods such as health products, beauty products, makeup, clothes, etc. These products are frequently used and require restocking every once in a while. Since there are a lot of brands that provide these products, competition has become very challenging. Each business tries to create a good customer experience so that the customer will stay for a long time and buy more and more. Promotions are really helpful for this. There are several types of promotions used by eCommerce stores.

Gift boxes are often offered by online stores that sell makeup products. These stores are targeting women and suggest they try different kinds of products in gift boxes. This is why this strategy is so successful – there are buyers who stick to the same products and buy them once they are no longer on their shelves.

Sending gift boxes to them encourages women to try different products, makeup with different color pallets, make up bags etc, something that they would not buy otherwise. Chances are that they will like the product and become constant buyers, even if they don’t, the sense of loyalty will be strengthened as everyone likes to be rewarded. There are also buyers who try new things every time, stores can design boxes with products that they often overlook, and drive their attention to it.

Gift cards for similar products are also very popular, especially for stores that offer health and skin-care products. These gift cards are sent to loyal customers once in a while for products that are similar to ones that they are already buying.

These promotional strategies are very beneficial for stores and customers, however, one of the best and most common promotions is the rewards system. Customers are getting rewarded with points for every purchase they make. This encourages them to buy more, especially because they can use these points for buying whatever products they want at the same store. This strategy is so beneficial for eCommerce stores, that some have pointed out that 80 percent of their sales come from these types of promotions.

Tourism industry

Just like many other industries, tourism has switched to the digital platform. The times when you had to call hotels for a reservation and spend time researching what activities to do is a thing of the past.

Booking.com, Tripadvisor, and Airbnb have become best friends for travelers all around the world. With the help of these platforms, everything related to traveling can be done online – choosing where to stay, booking hotels, searching for activities and experiences and booking them in advance. This has made traveling even more enjoyable and therefore millions of people are using online services to plan their time abroad.

It is also essential for these online businesses to keep customers loyal. Promotions in this industry are not dedicated to sales as much as they are dedicated to the customer experience and loyalty. The types of promotions for online businesses in the tourism industry include referrals, promotional codes, and different perks. For example, travelers who are using the platform often can receive codes for their next destination. Booking.com offers travelers perks such as free airport transfers or welcome drinks when they get to the hotel they have booked. Referring the online booking website to friends might get you an additional discount, therefore many users refer the service to others.

These promotions are very popular among customers, as everyone loves to get a discounted price just because they are using a certain website, or feel special when they receive free drinks to start their vacation right away. Promotions are undoubtedly very beneficial to online businesses operating in the tourism industry as they encourage people to remain loyal.

How to use promotions for your online business

While promotions are mostly offered by the types of online businesses that are on our list, other online companies that are operating in different fields can use them successfully as well. Everyone loves to feel special and exclusive, and get additional benefits. Promotions provide all those emotions and inspire customers to be loyal to certain companies. This is why promotions have always been part of businesses. However, not all promotions end up being seen and used, some of them are not successful and don’t bring any benefits to the company. It is important to know how to make a promotion in the right way. Here’s some advice.

Learn what your customers want

Some companies run unsuccessful promotions simply because they are offering promotions for products nobody wants. Today, as we live in the era of internet and technology, it is easy to understand what a customer wants and prepare promotions based on this valuable information. If you have an online business it means you have a couple of ways to track what your customers are looking at, and what they buy. You can use this information to create a promotion your customers will appreciate. It also gives a great opportunity to offer exclusive promotions to your most loyal customers.

Learn which products your customers love and want to buy and offer them exactly what they want. This way they will always find them attractive and try to get your promotions every once in a while. Showcase how you are rewarding people who use your products or services and others will be excited to be the next customer to receive them.

Offer realistic promotions

Always offer promotions that are valid. Nobody believes that someone can get a product or service that costs 1000 USD for 19 USD. It is simply unrealistic. Seeing this, many of your customers will find you dishonest and will not buy from you again.

This mistake is made more often than you can think. It does not bring any benefits to your company, as it is clear that the previous price is increased and the product does not have that much of a value. This kind of promotion will make you look desperate. Avoid them, and offer promotions that are realistic.

Make it consistent and fair

It does not mean you need to have promotions every day. Some online businesses, especially in the beginning, cannot offer promotions all year round. However, if you offer one it must be consistent. If you have certain criteria for the customers who are eligible to receive a promotion, everyone who falls in this category should receive it. Imagine that your customer refers your business to a friend because when they are registered with you they receive a $50 gift card which they can use after spending another $50. Once the friend registers you need to offer them the same promotion otherwise, none of them will stay with you.

Guest author: Konstantin has been in marketing and advertising since 2011. After leading marketing efforts of one of the largest financial brokerages and an innovative b2b fintech company, he decided to go solo and is now focusing on consulting financial companies on how to drive the best results from their digital marketing efforts. Next to this, Konstantin has been showing interest in the recent regulation of the most competitive industries – finance and iGaming. Stalk him on Quora or connect via LinkedIn to learn more.

]]>https://www.jeffbullas.com/business-promotions/7 Things You Can Do Right Now to Boost Your Website Conversion Ratehttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/JeffbullassBlog/~3/Tlq5k-aoT1E/
Wed, 04 Sep 2019 15:00:57 +0000https://www.jeffbullas.com/?p=70007Think about it for a moment… What are the reasons for creating, updating, and maintaining your business website? On the top of that list should […]

What are the reasons for creating, updating, and maintaining your business website?

On the top of that list should be one important goal – acquiring qualified leads and customers.

Because let’s be honest, if your business website fails to generate qualified leads and customers, it will have a negative effect on your success.

Not only do you need to build a great website, but you also need to constantly optimize the design, the content and the usability of your website in order to convert more of your visitors – and achieve more of your business targets.

In this blog post, I’ll be sharing 7 things you can start doing immediately to boost your website conversion rates.

Without further ado, let’s see how your business can capture more leads and customers through your website.

1. Track your conversion rates effectively

If you want to boost your website conversion rates, the first step is actually having the knowledge of your current conversion rates. That’s why you must put a system in place to track it effectively.

While tracking your conversion rates, you need to be tracking against your goals. What are your conversion goals? 5%? 100 sign-ups?

A popular tool you can use is Google Analytics. To see how well your landing pages are converting visitors, you can set a goal in Google Analytics to track actions that are considered conversions.

For instance, a conversion goal could be your ‘thank you’ page after a visitor signs up or makes a purchase:

Once a user gets to that ‘thank you’ page, it means that they’ve taken an action that counts as a conversion – and you can add them to your funnel.

When you’re able to track conversions effectively, it becomes easier to implement new strategies and see their effect on your results.

2. Build quality landing pages

Let’s be clear about this – most of your conversions will be on landing pages. Whether you’re trying to capture qualified leads or make sales, you need to build quality landing pages that can convince a visitor to convert. The more landing pages you have, the better – so ideally, you need to constantly create new landing pages, as well as optimize them regularly for better results.

Now, the concept of a quality landing page is subjective. But most quality landing pages have some common traits. These include:

A simple and attractive headline

Clear copy showing the benefits your ideal audience wants

An obvious call to action button with words displaying your offer

Social proof such as testimonials, case studies, number of users, etc.

Visuals supporting your page offer

Apart from increasing the quality of your landing pages, you also need to increase their quantity. Because having more landing pages also means more opportunities for conversions.

And this is supported by a HubSpot study where companies increased their lead acquisition by 55% when they increased the number of their landing pages from 10 to 15.

To create quality landing pages, you need the right landing page builder. And, of course, the right landing page builder for you will depend on your needs.

If you use WordPress on your website, one of the best solutions is Elementor; one of the best parts is that you can use it to design your landing pages directly in your WordPress dashboard.

It provides a simple drag and drop builder to help you create your landing pages even with few (or no) design skills:

You can also easily add forms, create pop-ups, ensure your landing pages are mobile-ready, amongst other features; plus, the fact that it’s built-in to WordPress makes it much easier to create new landing pages regularly, as needed.

3. Go for simple page designs

It’s hard to go wrong when you have a simple, easy to follow landing page. Whatever offer you’re trying to make to your audience, you need to do it in the simplest and clearest way possible.

A Google study found that visitors can form an impression of your page after viewing it for just 50ms. Pages with low visual complexity (VC) and high prototypicality (PT) appeal more to visitors.

Keep in mind that having some elements on your page will distract landing page visitors from converting – even though they might seem useful or they make your pages look better.

Two common examples are outbound links and navigation bars. These provide opportunities for visitors to leave your landing pages without performing your intended action.

It’s basically just a form; and the form only features the basic fields you’d need to get a lead’s information, plus a field asking about people’s marketing budget, which is quite useful for qualifying leads if your service is high-cost.

It’s not just links and navigation bars that you need to consider, but also the actual design; this too should be kept simple, with lots of white space and little content or visuals, as too much can overwhelm and confuse visitors.

4. Use lead magnets and content upgrades

Before visitors will release their personal information to you, they want to get some value for it. What value can you provide for your readers in return for their details?

A lead magnet is a piece of content that solves an immediate problem for your audience. Examples of lead magnets are:

eBooks

Whitepapers

Webinars

Checklists

Videos

Discounts

Content upgrades are a form of lead magnet that is more targeted. This means you’re trying to attract your audience with a piece of content that is highly relevant to the page they’re currently viewing; and that in turn means they’re more likely to convert.

See an example where Brian Dean offers a content upgrade on his popular Google ranking factors post:

A tool you can use to deliver content upgrades to your page visitors is Optimonster. It also provides the option to deliver exit-intent pop-ups to visitors about to leave your page, plus you can use it to create pop-ups and forms, as well as track your analytics, easily:

5. Carry out A/B tests on web page elements

Since there’s no perfect landing page, A/B testing is an activity that you must engage in during your campaigns. As a matter of fact, testing should go on for as long as a page exists – you’ll keep learning what makes your visitors convert so that you can continue to boost your landing page conversions, time and time again.

Having said that, what are the page elements you have to test on your landing pages?

Headline

Page copy

CTA button color

Page background

Visuals

With these tests, you can optimize conversions for your page. To make your tests accurate, it’s vital that you only test a single page element at a time. This way, you’re able to pinpoint the changes responsible for your results.

A tool that can help you carry out effective A/B tests is Crazy Egg. It allows you to set the elements you want to test on your page and for how long.

Added to this, you can see heat maps of your visitors’ activity and eye movement to see which regions of your page get more eyeballs. So, for example, you might notice that a lot of people aren’t looking at your call to action – in which case it’s imperative that you change the location or the colors used so that you can get more eyeballs on the call to action.

In a test, 160 Driving Academy tested a stock image against a unique image of their student in front of a truck. This simple test led to a 161% increase in conversions for the company:

6. Use social proof to convince visitors

Your potential customers might be skeptical of your intentions when you market your product yourself. But they find it easier to believe your message when it’s coming from your satisfied customers.

After all, your customers have little or nothing to gain from marketing your products. Communicating social proof is a way of showing prospects that you’ve already provided the solution they’re looking for to other businesses and other customers just like them.

Some ways to demonstrate social proof, include:

Testimonials

Case studies

Number of sales made

Number of customers

Glowing customer reviews

Social proof allows a prospect to convince themselves that they can get the solutions they want from your service. See an example from Sumo where they featured Pat Flynn’s endorsement of their product.

7. Carry out competitive analysis

Every business has competitors. And it’s better to follow up on them before they run you out of business.

First of all, there are many things you can learn by spying on your competitors. A few elements of their website that you should study, are:

Design

Page copy

Offer

Product or service features

Social proof they use

Payment platforms they use

Call to action

A reality you need to face is that potential customers will go through different websites before they make their choice on where to buy. So how do you gain an edge on your competitors?

The first step is knowing your competitors and their strategies. The second is finding ways to gain an advantage over them – and build better, higher-performing landing pages.

A tool like Crayon uses artificial intelligence to monitor important competitor activities and provide valuable insights to help you follow up on their moves. With this, you can take more proactive actions on your pages and convert more visitors:

Conclusion

Increasing website conversion rates is a continuous activity for your business. Because converting more of your visitors means more customers and increased profits – which, after all, is almost any businesses’ main objective.

What are you doing to help increase your website conversions? What tactics are you using?

Guest author: Lilach Bullock is highly regarded on the world speaker circuit, Lilach has graced Forbes and Number 10 Downing Street. She’s a hugely connected and highly influential entrepreneur. Listed in Forbes as one of the top 20 women social media power influencers and was crowned the Social Influencer of Europe by Oracle. She is listed as the number one Influencer in the UK by Career Experts and is a recipient of a Global Women Champions Award for her outstanding contribution and leadership in business. Check out her site Lilach Bullock or connect with her on LinkedIn.

]]>no Think about it for a moment&#8230; What are the reasons for creating, updating, and maintaining your business website? On the top of that list should [&#8230;] The post 7 Things You Can Do Right Now to Boost Your Website Conversion Rate appeared first on Think about it for a moment&#8230; What are the reasons for creating, updating, and maintaining your business website? On the top of that list should [&#8230;] The post 7 Things You Can Do Right Now to Boost Your Website Conversion Rate appeared first on Jeffbullas&#039;s Blog. Conversion Rate Optimizationhttps://www.jeffbullas.com/website-conversion-rate/What Is Website Accessibility and Why Does It Matter?http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/JeffbullassBlog/~3/eTDZRratccg/
Tue, 03 Sep 2019 15:00:43 +0000https://www.jeffbullas.com/?p=70141In so many ways, the Internet has been the great equalizer. While it would have been almost impossible for the average person to reach an […]

In so many ways, the Internet has been the great equalizer. While it would have been almost impossible for the average person to reach an audience of millions in the past, the Internet grants a voice to anyone who can get online. Similarly, while it can take substantial investments in time and capital to open a more traditional brick-and-mortar business, just about anyone can start an online business in seconds with very little in initial startup cost. Launch a blog or open an online store, build your audience, gain their trust, and you can literally start making money today.

As impactful as the rise and democratization of the Internet has been for the general population, it’s hardly complete. The truth is that upwards of 25 percent of the western world’s population faces some challenges or hurdles in regards to website accessibility. With disabilities such as limited vision, hearing loss, motor dysfunction, seizure disorders and more, individuals with disabilities and other impairments may not be able to enjoy the full benefits of a website without help from another person, from technology, or from some combination of the two.

Site owners and online content creators, working alongside the web design industry as a whole, can do a lot in reducing these sorts of struggles and frustrations by offering fully accessible site designs that comply with officially accepted standards. In particular, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) calls for compliance with WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) and Section 508 as the benchmark for user-friendly design. For all users.

The WCAG Explained (Including WCAG 1.0, 2.0, 2.1)

The Americans with Disabilities Act first set out to provide better accessibility options in public physical spaces for individuals with physical disabilities. But this notion of “public space” has since expanded to include the Internet, as a “digital” public space, and as a result, the same philosophy applies: all individuals, regardless of disability, should still have equal and reasonable access to what the space (website, in this case) is meant to provide the general public.

And, in much the same spirit, the WCAG was born. It was developed and published by the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the latter of which operates as the primary organization overlooking international standards on the Internet. The objective with the WCAG is to outline a series of recommendations to make online content more accessible for both individuals with disabilities and the public at large, both on desktop and mobile.

This is not a new development; WCAG 1.0 was first published way back in May 1999. It has subsequently been updated to WCAG 2.0 in December 2008, and more recently with WCAG 2.1 in June 2018. The guiding principles are that web content should be perceivable, operable, understandable and robust. WCAG compliance is graded on three levels – A, AA, and AAA – and most legislation calls for at least AA compliance.

Web design agencies must comply with ADA and WCAG standards

It’s true that a big part of the push toward designing and creating more accessible websites is an altruistic one; it only makes sense that you want your website to be reasonably accessible and usable by everyone. This also makes a lot of sense from a business perspective, because it means that you have a better opportunity to capture a broader audience and customer base; a website with poor accessibility makes for an unpleasant experience for individuals with disabilities, especially when dealing with eCommerce websites. But, there is more to this.

The growing prevalence of legal action taken against businesses whose websites don’t reasonably comply with ADA or WCAG standards is alarming. By offering and running a website that is not accessible and fully compliant with the aforementioned regulations, businesses leave themselves vulnerable to costly and potentially devastating lawsuits.

By extension, fewer and fewer businesses will be willing to work with web design agencies that do no commit to deliver WCAG 2.1 compliant websites.

It doesn’t matter if the agency you hire can create visually stunning websites if these designs are not accessible to your users. It’s reasonable to assume that due to the rising wave of web accessibility lawsuits, business owners will only turn to web design agencies that develop websites which are fully accessible and compliant with the ADA and WCAG 2.1.

Website accessibility is not a best practice, it’s mandatory. Complying with ADA and WCAG standards has effectively become law in many countries based on legislation and precedent, including the United States.

AI technology as the solution to website accessibility

What if I told you that you could achieve full ADA compliance in less than 48 hours? While designing a completely unique website from scratch can definitely take a lot longer than that, it is fully possible to configure your existing website design so that it aligns with the recommendations outlined in the WCAG 2.1. To achieve this, you’ll need to leverage artificial intelligence technology utilized by accessiBe, a company trusted by over 2,500 small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and industry leaders, including Burger King, BMW, and Avon.

Rather than rely on manual updates that can be very time-consuming and costly, since you’d need to keep hiring expensive accessibility experts to re-audit the site, the AI-powered solution from accessiBe is fully automatic. It can run every 24 hours too, so even on websites with frequent updates, you can be assured that you’re maintaining full WCAG compliance.

Artificial Intelligence is far more efficient and cost-effective than the manual approach, which can cost thousands of dollars in just an initial project without maintenance. With more businesses running their day to day operations online, using cloud technology, and moving towards automated and AI solutions, this is just another perfect example of a task that should be added to the list.

This is especially true when you take a moment to look at the many disabilities and impairments that your site, applications, tools, and business must be compliant with.

Tips to make your site accessible and compliant

It’s true that the AI solution can achieve full accessibility in less than two days. At the same time, it’s a good idea to be very mindful of accessibility standards as outlined by WCAG as you consider how your online content is displayed, consumed, and used by users of all abilities. Some general tips and steps to keep in mind include the following:

Enable users suffering from epilepsy to disable all animations, videos, and GIFs with the click of a button, to browse your site safely without the risk of experiencing a seizure.

All non-text content must be accompanied by a text-based alternative to aid the visually impaired experience visual content.

The text alternative should be formatted in such a way that it can be converted to other forms, like braille or text-to-speech.

Separate the foreground from the background clearly, paying attention to contrast ratios and color choices.

Offer fully functional site navigation that does not require touchscreen or mouse pointer-based interaction. Users should be able to get around easily using only a keyboard.

Avoid any deceptive or misleading design cues. Web pages should render and work in predictable ways.

Test to ensure all web content is correctly rendered and delivered across a variety of devices, screen resolutions, screen sizes, and device setting configurations.

Remember that website accessibility matters, both in principle and for your bottom line. You need an accessible website now more than ever.

Guest author: Zac Johnson is a world-renowned blogger and entrepreneur with nearly 20 years of experience in the online marketing space and has helped his readers generate millions of dollars online. He shares his story and guidance at ZacJohnson.com

]]>https://www.jeffbullas.com/website-accessibility/5 Considerations For Choosing a Social Media Management App For Your Businesshttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/JeffbullassBlog/~3/J9dGl41c1Bo/
Mon, 02 Sep 2019 15:00:51 +0000https://www.jeffbullas.com/?p=69960Not that long ago, one of the best ways a business owner could get in front of consumers was to take out a small ad […]

Not that long ago, one of the best ways a business owner could get in front of consumers was to take out a small ad in the Yellow Pages. Potential customers “let their fingers do the walking” through the huge paper directory of businesses and would stumble upon yours. And if your business name started with an A, B, or C so that it was listed first? Even better.

But those days are gone, and – like it or not – your business needs to be everywhere consumers may be looking for you. Along with search engines, review sites, and industry-related directories, the big hitters are social media networks, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, and LinkedIn.

In fact, the 2019 Social Media User Trends Report from GlobalWebIndex cites that 4 out of 10 consumers will use social networks to research a new brand or product. And for consumers aged 16 to 24, social media is the top method for research, outweighing search engines since 2017.

All right, already – you get it: Social media is important (critical?) for your business. However, managing six different networks while trying to run your business can be difficult at best. So, it’s probably time to invest in a social media management app to help facilitate your social media while being your brand’s eyes and ears in the social realm.

To assist you in making the most educated choice, consider the following five statements and whether the tool you’re eyeing enables you to fulfill all of them.

1. Be everywhere

As previously mentioned, your business needs to be represented in all the places where your potential customers are. Make a list of all of the social networks and which ones drive the most leads to you. Maybe you’ve determined that Facebook and LinkedIn are the best sources for your company or that Instagram and Pinterest are your top performers.

Armed with this list, you’ll want to choose a social media management app that publishes to and tracks those networks. Not all tools publish to all networks, so you want to ensure that your top social networks are represented.

Keep in mind that you might need to sacrifice features for the ability to publish to your principal social networks and vice versa.

Hootsuite integrates with the six biggest networks as well as publishes to WordPress.

2. Be responsive

When customers contact your company through social media, you must respond quickly. A quick and appropriate response is also needed when fans comment on and ask questions within your posts or ads, write Facebook reviews, and talk about your brand anywhere on social media.

An effective social media management app will enable you to track, monitor, and respond to all of these points of engagement (and then some) by:

Monitoring: From inside the app, monitoring lets you review and respond to all social network engagement, including comments and replies on posts, direct messages, tags of your brand on other users’ comments and posts, and comments on your social media ads. Ideally, the app will funnel this engagement into one place, grouped by social network, so that you can easily take action.

Listening: Not to be confused with monitoring, listening enables you to track and respond to mentions of your brand when it is not You want to know when someone’s talking about your business, don’t you? And when your website content is shared, the listening feature will pick up those posts too.]

Another use of the listening feature is when the products and services you offer are “hinted at” on social media. For example, if you’re a plumber, you might listen on Twitter for phrases and hashtags like “leaky faucet,” “#BurstPipe,” or “water heater” in your service area. When appropriate, respond and offer your services or provide a blog post from your website with helpful information. Don’t worry about looking like a creeper, because everything in the Twittersphere is public.

Wendy’s has become quite famous for the fast-food chain’s fun, sometimes snarky, and very responsiveTwitter feed. In this case, Wendy’s Tweeted a deal on Frosty at 4:46 pm. A “disgruntled” patron replied at 6:15 pm. Wendy’s responded the next day at 7:10 am with a solution. Can your social media management app help you be as responsive? It should.

3. Be effective

If a tree falls in the woods when no one is around to see it, does it make a sound? Similarly, if you publish a post about your anniversary party on three different social networks and no one sees it, does it have an impact? The answer to the latter is a resounding no.

For social media to be effective, you need to reach your audience at the right time and with the right message for the medium.

In other words, your social media management app should provide the reporting and analytics that enable you to make smarter decisions. What’s the best day to post, and what’s the best time of day? When are your followers most active on each network? And what types of posts are better for each network?

Not only are the analytics important, but so is having the reports in a format that works for you. Considerations for reporting include downloadable reports; post-level statistics; reports in PPT, PDF, and/or CSV; hashtag reports; and engagement reports. Determine what kind of reporting you need and ensure your tool can provide it.

In addition, if your business is a global brand, another consideration for your tool becomes the ability to post content depending on your followers’ time zones. The goal with this kind of data is to enable you to make more strategic decisions with your publishing, so choose a social media management app that helps you be more effective.

Agorapulse provides a report on Facebook that details fan growth and the number of posts published in addition to the best day, best time, and the best type of post to publish. This type of information enables you to get better and better at posting effective and engaging content.

4. Be consistent

In the world of advertising, the general rule is that customers need to see an ad seven times before they purchase. The idea is that a consistent message tends to work. Translate that to social media – frequent, consistent posting of content will keep you top of mind for current and potential customers.

A good social media management app will enable consistent posting on your behalf with

Repeat Posts: If your tool has a repeat option, it will duplicate a post again in the future, either at a date/time that you schedule or after a certain amount of time has passed. Note: some social networks (ex. Twitter) don’t allow for repeated posts.

Queuing Content: With a queue feature, your tool lets you choose specific days and times to publish posts. (You determine these with the great analytics that your tool provides, of course.) Then, you provide content to be published, and the tool fills up your queue.

Curation: The above features publish your original, evergreen content, including blog posts, general branding, education, service offerings, and the like. But creating all that content can be time-consuming for a small business. With a content curation feature, your tool can help you find relevant content from other sources to share with your following. You simply review and schedule it.

eClincher provides content curation from a variety of sources, including RSS feeds, Feedly, Pocket, and general news archives based on keywords.

5. Be savvy

Most people wouldn’t buy a car without taking it for a test drive. The same should be true for any tool that you purchase. Almost every social media management app comes with a free trial – some for as long as 30 days. Take advantage of free trials to explore tools’ functionality, reporting, and all its bells and whistles.

Find out whether the tool integrates into other software that your company currently uses. And, if applicable, check out the team collaboration aspect of any tool to ensure that it fits your needs.

You know your business better than anyone else, and that includes your financial capabilities and constraints. You don’t want to break the bank but make smart choices in investing in a tool. (Cheaper isn’t always better.) Truly analyze the ROI of purchasing this type of tool.

Take into account the amount of time you and/or your staff spend publishing content to multiple sources, compiling data from multiple sources, curating content to share, reviewing and responding to engagement on multiple sources, and so on. And don’t forget to account for the overall improvement that the tool will bring to your company, through quicker response times, optimized posts that drive more engagement, and increased awareness and reach.

MavSocial provides four plan levels, each building upon the other in terms of the number of social profiles, social networks, users, and more. All plans come with a free 14-day trial.

Wrapping up

Choosing a social media management app is no small feat. Social media consultant Ian Anderson Gray has published a comprehensive Buyer’s Guide to help professionals like you make the best choice for your company. It includes a handy side-by-side comparison of 13 tools on roughly 70 different features. This free guide will lead you to the tools that provide them.

Guest author: Andi Lucas is the founder and owner ofHummingbird Marketing Services, a boutique marketing firm based in Seattle and serving clients around the globe. Andi has almost 25 years of marketing, editing/writing, and overall business experience.

]]>https://www.jeffbullas.com/choosing-a-social-media-management-app/What Nourishes Your Soul?http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/JeffbullassBlog/~3/jCAjJgZ0KIQ/
Mon, 02 Sep 2019 00:20:58 +0000https://www.jeffbullas.com/?p=70159Do you ever get to the end of the day and feel empty? It’s a gnawing feeling. Faint. A whisper. You have been busy and […]